The Puppet That Heals
by JayBirds
Summary: Senji would have never expected someone like her to come into his life. She was innocent, almost too innocent. But no matter how many times he tells himself that he's no good for her, he can't bring himself to let her go.
1. Chapter One: Her

The Puppet That Heals

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Chapter One: Her

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Driving up the rocky road to his destination, Senji watched the lights flicker behind the dense trees of the forest surrounding him, a crocked smile gracing his usual stoic face with the excitement of what lied ahead. It wasn't everyday he was invited to a deadman only extravaganza, and with the promise of 'letting lose' their branch of sins at will would bring a smile to any violence driven man. Of course, his days of really letting lose had long since passed, but he still had the desire to fight to his hearts content. Even with one arm, he knew he was still a better fighter than most of the pansy ass deadmen that were bound to show up to this little gathering.

Rounding around a corner, he came to something that reminded him of camp; rows of cabins sitting next to one another with people standing out front chatting away like the world only revolved around them. If he didn't know any better, he would have had thought he'd took a wrong turn a ways back, but seeing random people manipulating blood for their own amusement told him otherwise.

Senji parked his bike next to a row of other motorcycles, turning off the ignition and getting off while pocketing his keys. When he turned toward the so called 'deadman party' he instantly noticed two boys walking up to him. Both had drunken smiles plastered onto their faces as they lazily walked over to him. Senji physically tensed, ready for the worse.

"Heeeey!" one called out, his eyes blinking quickly to momentarily blink the drunken blur from his eyes as he took in Senji's form. "Your — erm… Crows Claw! That's it! Man, I heard so much about you!" Surprisingly, despite his stumbling, drunken walk and too relaxed face, he hardly slurred a word when he addressed him.

"Ya," Senji replied with a smug smirk, finding it amusing that deadmen outside of Deadman Wonderland knew of him [1]. "That's me."

The one who'd been speaking broadened his smile. "I can't believe it, you're my hero man!"

"Is that so?"

"Senji!" An all too familiar voice called out. Senji turned in the direction of the voice to find Karako, a dark skinned woman with huge… jogging toward him with a smile. Senji couldn't help but look at her in confusion.

"What are you doing here?" he straight out asked, finding himself a bit flustered when he'd noticed her showing more skin than she should. He instantly glanced away when he saw she was wearing a too-tight belly shirt.

"Why wouldn't I be here?" she replied with a smile when she stopped in front of him.

"I just wouldn't expect to see you here. Don't you work at some shitty hospital now?"

"Yeah, but I took the week off, and it's not some shitty hospital, it's called a job. You should try it one day, might get you somewhere in life."

"Tch, what do you know what I've been doing?" he mumbled mostly to himself, still diverting his gaze away from the well busted woman in front of him. She still heard him, however, despite his mumbling.

"You keeping a job?" she teased half-heartedly. "That'll be the day."

"I didn't ask you, now did I?" Senji's voice rose, his usual anger already starting to boil.

He needed to let lose. Her words wasn't the cause of his anger, however. He was now starting to get antsy, and the only reason he could think of was because he was itching to start a fight. It'd been so long, it was almost like a drug. He remembered the thrill he would receive while fighting. He'd been trying to get the thrill back by doing a variety of activities other than fighting, nowadays, since society frowned upon the violence. Mountain climbing and various other similar activities only got the edge off.

Karoko smiled at his agitated state. How it brought back so many memories. "I bet you're here to fight, am I right?" When he gave her his best 'no shit' look, she laughed. "There's someone I like you to meet." She turned around and froze, head whipping around her as her eyes scanned the following area in a hurried worry.

"What is it?" Senji asked, noticing her suddenly stressed state.

"She was just behind me a second ago. I told her not to wonder off…"

"Who the he'll are you taking about?"

Karoko paused, her hands forming into fists at her side as thoughts raced through her mind. If anything happened to her… she wouldn't forgive herself.

"I got to go." Karoko ran off leaving a dumbfounded Senji behind.

Senji shrugged his shoulders and looked back at the two boys talking to him earlier but found they'd already left. He shrugged again, not caring that the attention was no longer addressing him and walked forward. Off in a distance he noticed a small crowd forming. He couldn't help but let the smile slide to his lips as he walked toward the mass of deadmen. Something told him a little friendly competition was about to begin.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" Someone announced in the middle of the crowd, addressing everyone. Senji pushed his way passed everyone to get a front row seat. He was surprised, however, when he saw his goggled, mountain climbing companion standing in the middle of the crowded circle and was announcing whatever bullshit he had in mind.

Senji, after thinking about it, wasn't surprised to see Brandon, he did invite him there after all.

"Let's get this show on the road! Enough dillydallying, let the lineup begin and let the betting commence. Tonight someone is coming out big in both money and fame." Brandon turned as he talked, both arms extended in the air like he was calling a field goal as he continued to speak, "There will be no brackets, only one on one matches with whoever the fuck wants to fight next!"

"That's bullshit!" Someone called from the crowd, murmurs was heard through the crowd of people with Brandon's so called rules.

"Now, now, no need to worry about being the starting matches. You see," he reached behind him and grabbed someone Senji just realized he had hiding behind him the whole time.

Dragging her by the wrists, and almost dangling her in the air, a young girl was held up for everyone to see… but something wasn't right with her. Her eyes were basically spinning in the back of her head and drool was dripping from her mouth in a very un-lady like fashion. She was passed out cold.

"We have a medic branch of sin user!" Brandon announced, his enthusiasm growing with his smile.

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Author's Note:  
**[1] A lot of normal people, even other deadmen, didn't know much about what happened inside Deadman Wonderland, so Senji was surprised to see that anyone would know him and his deadman codename.  
**

**So, what do you guys think? Hope I kept everyone in character, -_-.**

**Also, sorry if this is short. On lunaescnece, if anyone goes on there then you know what I'm talking about, to get validated faster, the short the chapters the faster... so ya. The next one will be slightly longer. My other account on here, 9thDimen, I usually make my chapters about 6,000 words long, hehe. **


	2. Chapter Two: Humor Me

The Puppet That Heals

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Chapter Two: Humor Me

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"Brandon! What the hell?!" Karako yelled, stomping over to Brandon and grabbing hold of the unconscious girl. She held the girl in her arms, cradling her head in her hands as she stared down at her with a worried look.

"What?" Brandon shrugged with a smile, ignoring Karako's frightening glares. "I just gave her some spiked lemonade. Not my fault she can't take her liquor."

"You idiot!" Karako growled, still cradling the girl in her arms that was still drooling profusely and eyes spinning in the back of her head which only added to Karako's concern for the wellbeing of the child like girl. "She never drank before!"

Brandon blinked a couple of times at her. He cocked his head to the side in dumbfound disbelief. "What? Really? …Well, that explains a lot." He laughed.

"Hey," Karako whispered, slightly shaking the girl while cupping her cheek. She genuinely looked concerned for the girl, almost like a motherly concern.

"Come on now," Karako continued. "Wake up… now isn't the time to take a nap." When she didn't receive any sort of response, she sighed heavily. "I knew it was a bad idea to bring you along."

"Hey, Joshiro!" Brandon yelled into the crowd of people to his right. "Throw me one, will ya?" A beer can came flying at him and he caught it effortlessly. He opened it and walked over to the two girls with a mischievous grin. "This should wake her up."

"How the hell is beer supposed to wake her up, dumbass?"

"Like this," he poured the beer onto the unconscious redhead below him, letting it splatter all over her face and white blouse. The girl jolted up, bright blue eyes blinking in complete and utter confusion as she sputtered out the little bit of beer that made it into her mouth.

"See. Told ya she'd wake up," Brandon said triumphantly, flinging the beer can behind him without much care.

"Kye!"Karako (basically) yelled worriedly, her eyebrows furrowed together as she concentrated on the girl in front of her. "Are you alright?"

Kye looked at her with wide, fearful eyes, then blinked, then glanced around her in confusion. "How did I…" she mumbled to herself. Then, like it finally came to her, she sighed irritably. "Oh yah, that disgusting drink I had earlier."

Brandon crouched down near her with a wicked grin plastered on his half drunk face. His eyes moved down to her soaked white blouse, the grin on his face growing "Didn't know we were holding a wet T-shirt contest."

Kye glanced down to where he was looking at and blushed deeply. Her light pink bra was in clear view because of her beer soaked blouse. She wrapped her arms around her chest and turned away from him while yelling, "You're a pervert, you know that!?"

Brandon blinked at her, his frown slipping from his lips. He watched closely as her cheeks turned an even darker shade of red as she kept glancing back at him with flustered eyes. Suddenly, out of nowhere and out of character for the likes of Brandon, he wrapped his arms around the flustered redhead and rubbed his cheek against hers, his own dusted with a light pink of admiration.

"I don't think I've ever seen a cuter face than the one you're making now, Kye-chan!" he gushed, but before he could continue on his gushing, a fist connected with his other, more exposed cheek causing him to sail back into the ground with a large and painful thud.

"Keep your hands off of her!" Karako practically roared, fumes emitting out of her nostrils from the anger she was harboring for the so-called man who thought goggles was some sort of fashion fab he was trying to start up.

Brandon brought both hands up in surrender, but still kept his leering smile directed toward the two women. "Whatever you say," he laughed. "So, I'm guessing I can't use her as our medic?"

"Hell no!"

Brandon shrugged, not really caring either way. He finally turned to the crowd of deadmen, just now processing their complaints to get everything rolling. "Well," he began, eyeing everyone that surrounded him. He finally noticed Senji, who had his hand splayed over his hip and was looking rather irritated about the whole situation. Brandon smiled cockily, then continued, "Looks like we have a change of plans…"

The game plan was set. There was going to be one on one fights with brackets telling who was going to fight who. Basically, every man for himself. It didn't matter what your fighting style was, or how good of a fighter you were, the pick was random (except for a couple who held grudges with one another and wanted to get even so asked if they could be pitted against each other from the start, which Brandon didn't seemed to mind).

Despite the silliness Brandon usually presented himself, he did well with organizing the event. Before organizing the party, he'd already had brackets created before even arriving. He was the one who'd invited all the deadmen so he had a general idea on who was coming and created the rounds himself beforehand so the events could unfold quicker than doing them on the spot. Logging the stragglers in that decided to come from being invited by a friend, and taking out names of deadmen who only came to speculate; by the end of the night, the rounds were set and in the morning, the chaos would commence.

Tonight, though, was a night to party, show off, and get wasted.

"What a load of bullshit," Senji grumbled to himself, hating the fact he had to wait till tomorrow to let lose. "We should all go at it instead of doing some bullshit rounds."

"Senji!" Someone called out. Senji looked over to see Brandon coming over with two beers in his hands. He threw one at Senji and he caught it with a smile. "How's it going? Been awhile."

"Not much, just travellin' and enjoying the scenery. You?"

Brandon shrugged his shoulders and leaned next to Senji on one of the many lodgings wall that harbored the area. They both simultaneously opened their beer cans and brought it to their lips. Senji easily finished the beer off in one sitting, smiling as he took in a refreshing breath after his fill. It'd been awhile since his last beer and it was well worth the wait.

"That's the stuff," he said with a grateful smile. A comfortable silence fell between the two friends as they leaned against a cabin and watched the random deadmen show off in their drunken stupor. Senji was anxious to fight; to tear into other deadmen and let loose of his powers. It'd been a long time since he could unravel in his uniqueness, but he figured the one day wait was worth it. Besides, he could gauge his opponents as they stupidly swung their powers amuck in feigned ignorance; to see what he was up against.

Of course, as the night dragged on his comfortable silence soon crumpled when a little unsettling event decided to poke its head in his line of vision.

"Karako?" a small girl called, Senji instantly recognizing her as Brandon's play thing when he was announcing the rules. He took note on how she'd changed from her beer soaked blouse-in which made the blood rush to his face as he remembered the image of Brandon soaking her see-through top with beer earlier on—to an oversized sweatshirt, and how she had her blood red hair tied in a high ponytail as she continued to call for her dark skinned friend. He snorted when she called for her once more, trying to wrap his head around how dumb she was walking alone with drunk deadmen leering at her as she continued on. Her stupidity only seemed to shine brighter as she either ignored the stares she was receiving, or just plainly didn't notice them. He choose the latter of the two.

Her round, bright blue eyes, soft features and just the way she held herself screamed of pure innocence. She didn't get out much, that he was sure of.

"What the hell does she think she's doing?" Brandon growled next to him as he flung his third beer onto the ground.

"I was wonderin' the same thing. The idiot is going to get fucked up if she isn't careful, maybe even killed." Senji looked away from her and downed the last of his beer before flinging it, too. "Like I give a shit. Serves her right for being stupid."

A startled gasp brought his eyes to the girl again. Two men almost twice her size was looming over her, the maddening gleam in their eyes conveyed their meaning with the confrontation to a sickening degree. The girl took a step back, her obvious fright shined in her eyes as she looked upon the two men.

"Um, excuse me," she all but whispered as she tried to walk around them in an attempt to not provoke the two. Senji growled at her idiocy once more if she'd actually thought she could get away from them that easily.

"Hey now, sweetie, where do you think you're going?" the one on the right, with a greying beard and brownish grey hair tied in a ponytail began as he grabbed the girl by the arm in a vice grip. "Why don't you stay a bit and entertain us." He gave her a lecherous smile.

She flinched at the initial grab but made no indication of giving in or backing down. Senji at least had to give her credit for that. "Sorry," she began a little more strongly than before. "But I'm looking for someone, maybe another time."

His grip tightened, her eyes strained slightly from the pain. "Aw, come on princess, don't be light that." The man laughed as he pulled the now struggling girl up against his body where his other arm wound around her small waste. "Your friend can wait…"

Senji watched with utter disgust at the show. Brandon next to him sighed, but smiled nonetheless as he kicked off the wall and stood up at his full height. "Looks like I found myself a damsel in distress. Hope I look good in shiny white armor." He laughed at his pathetic joke and looked over at Senji for encouragement. "Want to be my backup? My sidekick?"

Senji snorted. "Not a chance, jackass, and you'll look like shit in white armor, jus' so ya know."

Brandon scowled and turned his back to his friend. "I'll look damn sexy in white armor, just you see. Maybe my damsel will give me a smooch when I save her." Brandon snickered as he made his way to the three. The girl was now pushing with all her strength to get away from the man, the other watched with amusement as he watched the display with all too pleasing eyes. Senji snorted at their vulgar act. Why men acted that way was beyond him.

"Please," the girl said meekly, her eyes straining to look up at the man who had a vice grip around her waist and shoulders. "I don't want any trouble, I'm just looking for my friend, that's all."

The guy that held her snickered, obviously enjoying her display of innocent weakness. "What trouble?" the man mocked. "Who said you were in any trouble, sweetie. Stay with us and we'll keep you out of trouble, guaranteed." He smiled wickedly down at her, when he squeezed her tighter to his body she felt something hard rubbing against her lower stomach which in turn made her blush profusely. She opened her mouth to say something, then closed it as if rethinking it, then opened it again but ended up closing it for the second time. She was at a loss for words. She'd never been in the situation before.

"Well, isn't that cute," he drawled out as his pale blue eyes scanned over her blushing cheeks. "I don't think I ever seen a cuter blush before yours, sweetie. And that little fish act you going on there makes my thoughts race on what else you could do with those pretty little lips of yours." That only made her blush more, and in return made the man laugh even harder.

"That's enough you two," a voice said from beside them. The man felt someone grab his shoulder and lightly shove him in an attempt to get him away from the girl. The man swung the girl behind him, an arm still in a vice like grip around her waist as he turned to the now fourth player in their little circle. Pale blue eyes met stoic brown ones in a duel of glares. The man instantly recognized him as the host of their little party and backed off some; not much, but enough to not cause too much of a scene.

"Brandon!" the man bellowed like they were close friends. "We're just having a little fun here. No need for your concern, man."

"I'm sure you are," Brandon began with a smile, speaking as nonchalantly as possible. "But you see, the friend she was looking for was me, and since she's found me I think we will be on our way. We have a date tonight." He winked at the girl making her face now a bright cherry red color. "And I plan on having a night to remember with the young girl. Now, if you'll be so kind as to let her go so we can be on our way."

The man scrunched his eyes at Brandon in contemplation, debating on if everything he said was true. Brandon reached forward to grab the girls' arm not waiting to hear his response, but the man blocked him with a smile. "Hey now, how 'bout we share her for the night? I don't mind a little tag team, as long as I'm in front."

"Hey now, big guy," Brandon waved his hands in front of him in feigned panic. "I wouldn't be that disrespectful to do such a thing to the young miss. I was referring more like a candle light dinner under the moonless, starry sky with champagne and red roses sort of deal. I don't know where you got the assumption I wanted to ravish my girl in such a crude fashion." Of course, his eyes that were now sparkling said a different story.

The man was no longer smiling as he looked down at Brandon with annoyance. "How 'bout you come back in an hour then I'll hand her over no problem. Sound like a plan, _friend?" _He spat the last word out like it was a curse.

"Sorry, _pal, _but I can't leave my date with shitheads such as yourselves." Brandon's eyes gleamed with mischief as he watched the mans face grow red with anger.

"What the hell did you ju—"

However, before he could finish his sentence a flurry of something red slashed out of nowhere, obscuring the girls view for a moment when she heard a yelp and then was suddenly on her butt, free from the man's grimy grasp.

Brandon was smiling mischievously down at the man who was covered in small bloody cuts and bruises. The girl gapped at him and looked up at Brandon. She'd remembered him from earlier in the night when he offered that nasty drink, and suddenly hugged her when she woke up. Despite the cruel way he spoke and handled things, she got up and ran toward him and stood behind him away from the two men who tried to assault her. She'd figured she'd have better luck with this Brandon character then with those two.

Brandon smirked at her choice to trust him. He could feel his cheeks growing warm at how cute she was being in trusting him so easily. If it weren't for these two men looking at him in disbelief and then in anger as they got back up on their feet, he would be hugging her cuteness right about then. Whatever. It could wait till after he dealt with these morons.

"I wouldn't get back up if I were you two," he threatened with a bitter smile. "Don't want to scratch up your pretty little faces, now don't we?"

"Fuck you, bitch!" The grey man yelled and launched himself forward. He reeled his hand back to punch Brandon, but when he got close enough to do so, a sudden fist made contact with his stomach, sending him flying back in utter pain.

"Tch," the man with spikey black hair, a missing right arm, and an eye patch over his right eye sneered at the man he just punched ruthlessly. "What the hell Brandon," he turned toward the goggled boy with a slight snarl. "It's not like you to procrastinate, why the hell didn't you just take him out the first time you drew your damn branch of sin?"

Brandon shrugged, a smile adorning his lips as his eyes twinkled with mirth. "Didn't want to harm the little lady." He turned his attention to the girl, his smile turning one of clear amusement at her wide eye stare. "You're not hurt, are you?" She shook her head no making Brandon turn back toward his seething friend. "See. That's called doing it right without casualty."

Senji snorted and glared at the girl behind him. "Who cares if you'd hurt the bitch? She was stupid enough to get caught anyway."

Brandon gave a mocking glare, but was stilling smiling nonetheless. "That's not very nice. I mean, yeah, that was pretty stupid to be strolling around with people who can use their blood as fucking weapons of destruction without backup, but she obviously is too innocent to understand her mistake. Look at her, she's probably hasn't been out much and is most likely a virgin." Brandon turned to look at her, his eyes sparkling again with amusement to see her face blushing again. "So you are a virgin!"

She turned away from him, her face growing more crimson by the second. "That's rude to ask," she mumbled. "And why would I want to talk about that to a complete stranger?"

"'That'?" he repeated her with question. "You mean your sex life?" when she didn't respond, his own cheeks burned red with admiration. He couldn't take it anymore, he just had to hug her. In which case, he did. He wrapped her in his arms and brought his cheek down to hers to rub sensually against it. He could feel the heat radiating off her cheek in utter embarrassment. "That's so cute!" he gushed. "You don't want to say sex, now do you?! I bet saying penis and vagina will make you blush even a cuter red!" And to confirm his suspicions, he felt more heat coming off of her cheek.

"Fuck man!" Senji smacked his face at his perverse friend. "What the hell is wrong with you? That's not cute at all!"

Brandon stiffened, his arm momentarily squeezed the girl as Senji's words washed over him. Slowly, Brandon turned toward Senji and brought an unwilling girl to stand in front of him, his fingers gripping her arms rather tightly. "How dare you," Brandon said accusingly. "How dare you say that this blushing girl isn't cute? I mean, look at her!" He cupped her chin in his right hand and brought her face up to look at Senji directly. "She is like the epitome of a cute girl. She looks barely legal and everything about her screams innocent. And when she blushes-" he stopped speaking and shuttered at the thought of her blushing, like he was trying to keep his gushing to a bear minimal. "It's just the cutest thing ever, like a little baby blushing, but she's not a baby, she's an almost grown women that has an innocence of a baby."

"You're an idiot."

"I am not an idiot! Just watch!" He leaned in close to her ear and began to whisper. Senji couldn't hear a word he was saying, but how the girl began to profusely blush he knew whatever he was saying was most likely, probably, perverted. As the seconds ticked by her eyes grew wider and wider. By the time Brandon was done whispering, she'd brought her hand up toward her nose to cup it in an attempt to stop her poor, innocent nose from bleeding everywhere from the sudden blood rush his words presented. She almost collapsed from her knees buckling in but Brandon caught her, holding her upright as he hugged her from behind like he was hugging a beloved stuff teddy-bear.

"You're still a fucking idiot," Senji sighed at his friends' antics. "All you're doing is tormenting the girl, now let her go and let's get back to drinking. My buzz is wearing off."

"Aw, you're no fun man," Brandon whined as he still supported the now shaky legged girl. She was still clutching her nose from the perverts' words, and it seemed her eyes were swimming in the back of her head as the words continuously bounced throughout her mind.

"Kye!" an all too familiar women's voice called out, full of worry. Karako was running toward them, disregarding the unconscious man on the ground as she stopped in front of them with wide eyes, staring down at her semiconscious friend (The other man probably ran off after seeing his friend get K'O'd in one shot by a one arm man).

"What the hell did you do to her… again?!" Karako glared at Brandon, her eyes burning with a suppressed rage for the goggled eye man. She'd only turned her back on Kye for a second, and when she turned back around the girl somehow disappeared. For the last hour she searched for her, all the while cursing herself for letting the girl out of her sights. She swore the girl had ADD or something. She took note of getting her tested after the whole ordeal was done with. Maybe she could convince Kye of leaving early. She'd doubted that, considering how excited she'd been the whole time she'd been there.

"I didn't do anything!" Brandon shot back, not liking the accusing voice Karako was using. "She fainted all on her own!"

"You just can't faint on your own! You gave her more alcohol, didn't you?!"

"No! All I did was whisper naughty things into her ear and she just… well… did this." He looked down at the semiconscious girl in his arms for emphasis.

Karako paused for a second, assessing the situation before sighing rather loudly, and irritably. "Of course she would do that," she mumbled mostly to herself. "Any sort of dirty talking makes her feint from embarrassment, can't even saying dick without her going tomato red…"

Brandon looked at her blankly. "Seriously?" He looked back down at the girl, a slight dust of pink adorning his cheeks. "That's… so cute!" He hugged the girl, much to Karako's mortification and continued to coo about how adorable the girl was.

Senji refrained himself from smacking his forehead again. Tonight was going to be a long night…

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**(Author's Note: Not a lot happening in this chapter, but I got Senji and Kye introduced to one another. Like I said before, I'm not used to writing a character so innocent as Kye, even though, in a way, she's a little perverted since she refers to the word 'dick' as a guys you-know-what, hehe, even when it's used as an insult. The next chapter will have more Senji and Kye talking with one another moments, even though Senji's first impression of the girl wasn't a very good one…)**


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